Can we save our original parquet floors?

Our contractor was going to sand and poly our original floors on the parlor level, 12″ oak squares, but after an attempt to sand them he claims that they’re just too thin to sand any more and they should be replaced… I’m estimating that they’re about 1/8″ thick at this point. Does anyone think that they might be able to be sanded with a very thin sandpaper, just enough that we could poly them again? In addition, a few of the “keys” are busted/missing so there are a few squares we’d need to replace. I’ve sourced the parquet squares at NY Hardwood Floors but it seems like it will be a lot of work to sand them down to 1/8″… is there another way to get thinner wood pieces?

Also, anyone have a ballpark number for this job of sanding/staining the floor might cost? The area is about 600 sq feet.

Or, if we have to put down (glue down) new parquet… anyone have an estimate what this might cost us? Especially if we have borders and such, I’m imagining it will be quite expensive?

Guest User | 4 years and 4 months ago

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stevecym | 4 years and 4 months ago

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Had something been glued down on them? They can be salvaged. I am not sure if screening would remove what is on there. Looks like goid floor.

Guest User | 4 years and 4 months ago

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[Entryway2_floor](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:f8Ro:entryway2_floor.jpg.jpg) [Entryway_floor](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:tOU5:entryway_floor.jpg.jpg) And this is an area I didn’t even ask about yet. Basically there used to be a wall separating this entry way from the living room/dining room and this entry floor was sadly neglected. Now that it’s one space we want to find a way to make the floor look uniform, although it may not be possible? And perhaps these neglected entryway part of the floor could actually be sanded since I doubt it was refinished as much. I can’t feel a height difference but haven’t lifted a plank.

Guest User | 4 years and 4 months ago

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Here are photos of the main part, a combined living room and dining room…
[Livingroom_floor](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:CKDZ:livingroom_floor.jpg.jpg) [Diningroom_floor](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:BBvG:diningroom_floor.jpg.jpg)

Guest User | 4 years and 4 months ago

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Thanks @doorsby… I don’t know if you happened to see the photo with the test area the contractor did with the large sander? Do you think if we screen the floors then that sanded area (which has all poly removed now) will blend in?

andriywww1990 | 4 years and 4 months ago

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And i reread your post. With the proper hand held sander and a hard pad, taking new 1/4 wood down to 1/8 is fast. A sander from Hd is not the way to go and i would not belt it though i suppose at one time i did things like that. A belt sander might rock over small pieces, either narrow or short, and damage surrounding wood. The small festool rotex is the machine for these narrow strips.

andriywww1990 | 4 years and 4 months ago

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At worst, if you are on a budget, you screen the hell out of them 60. 80, 100, 120, 150, 180 and 220 grit and dust & coat. Screening in a room like this goes fast. So spend a bit of time. And dust between coats. It may not come out perfect and they did not come out perfect in the house i live in. But it is way down on the list.

andriywww1990 | 4 years and 4 months ago

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I would screen these. The missing pieces are child’s play. But i would still consult a pro. The photos may not tell all and a pro may have a better opinion than i. Can you get a better photo looking down at a wide area?

Guest User | 4 years and 4 months ago

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These are some photos… Good idea with contacting a floor pro, I’ll give them a call.

Guest User | 4 years and 4 months ago

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[Floor_with_test_area](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:4XJr:floor_with_test_area.jpg.jpg) [Floor_closeup](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:0ozd:floor_closeup.jpg.jpg)

Guest User | 4 years and 4 months ago

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[Floor_border](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:05N7:floor_border.jpg.jpg)

RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 4 years and 4 months ago

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AND would be put out for trash collection, so yo’u’d have to work fast

andriywww1990 | 4 years and 4 months ago

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Brokelin, i have pulled used 3/4 tongue and groove out of the trash for patches as i reason it would match better. But i suspect that this thin and worn stuff may really be beat up after removal.

brokelin | 4 years and 4 months ago

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With all the people pulling out the old oak floors, not just because they may be worn thin (many are still in fine shape), but often because many brownstones are now renovated to look modern (something you didn’t see much of at all 30-40 years ago in brownstone Brooklyn), and many new owners just want something considered more modern, I would think that there’s a growing supply of reclaimed original brownstone flooring to be found somewhere – I’d try finding that, even for the key pieces, before I’d source new wood – the old stuff would probably blend in much better.

Someone on here should know some sources for local reclaimed wood, as should people who specialize in repairing old floors in brownstones.

Arkady | 4 years and 4 months ago

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If you want to replace individual pieces you have to have wood that is “quarter sawn” to match the existing. It’ll still look different because of years of color change but the grain will be the same.

andriywww1990 | 4 years and 4 months ago

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@OP and Ed: op, ed is correct. if your contractor is not a floor person, he will not know the breadth of options on a floor like this and will not know where he can push limits. if you call someone who makes his or her living doing floors, you will get the truth. they will not jeopardize their reputation attempting something that is questionable.

i have done dozens of floors. small floors, large floors, new floors, mostly with an old style tilt drum sander. they come out beautiful. but this is not what i do for a living, everyday. i have a cousin who is aware of my experience and likes my work (i have worked in his house). his T&G floor is sanded down sort of thin. he knows this. every now and then he mentions having me do it and we kick the risks around a little and then drop it and i do not bring it up again until he does. a real flooring pro might walk in and say it is no problem or a problem or only a problem for the wrong per son. you might want to call a real pro and get an opinion. just because someone who rented a sander (sorry, i am making an assumption here) from home depot says something, it does not mean it is correct.

agdipierro

in General Discussion 4 years and 4 months ago

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I recommend contacting Norwegian Wood for a price

stevecym | 4 years and 4 months ago

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Op, you should post a picture. If you dont have scratches into the wood or even if you do have some light scratches into the wood, screening will do a lot.

Guest User | 4 years and 4 months ago

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Wow you guys are so helpful, thank you! @Doorsby / Steve – screening seems like a good option and I will try to look it up to learn more… yes the contractor probably could have seen that a conventional sanding wasn’t going to be possible… He did a test area and now getting that test area to blend in (if we do keep the floor ) is a new problem we have to deal with.

And @brokelin hand sanding is an interesting idea… we tried a little of that ourselves for fun and it seemed pretty effective.

These ideas are is giving me hope that we won’t have to replace the floor (at least not yet), so yay!

stevecym | 4 years and 4 months ago

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Be very careful having inexperienced people sand any large area with hand held power tools. They have the habit of heeling the machines which can leave dishes in the otherwise flat surfaces. When i had my son do that floor i mention above, i was right there being a real annoyance, coaching his every move. The bigger the room, the more risk of seeing this kind of imperfection as light runs across it. Standing right over it, it is hard to spot. People who sand bar tops know what i am talking about.

When i was a child, my father paid some neighborhood youth to sand a hallway in the house i grew up in. I thought it looked really good but for years after my mother complained about it. There were these squiggely lines in it and i now know what caused it, instead of running the sanders straight, these guys shifted them side to side as they move along. These kind of marks are tears in the wood grain and hard to get out. It was really a pretty good job for teenagers and besides, it was the only time in my life that i got to witness belt sander races.

Keep in min d, floor sanding often stops at 100 grit. The reason we dont see swirls is the drum spins in one direction like a belt sander. With the right tools, festool, in the right hands, a floor can be made to look like fine furniture, sanded down to perhaps 150. I would not go to fine as you would lose mechanical bond which is important on something we walk on.